Michael Bloomberg: Bill De Blasio running ‘racist’ campaign in NYC

Outgoing New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg laced into surging Democratic mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio in an interview published Saturday, saying he’s run a “racist” campaign with just three days left in the primary race.

The remarks from Bloomberg about de Blasio, the city’s Public Advocate who has showcased his biracial family on the campaign trail, came as the frontrunner is within striking distance of clearing the 40 percent mark in the primary vote that would prevent a runoff three weeks later.

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“… there’s Bill de Blasio, who’s become the Democratic front-runner,” New York Magazine’s Chris Smith asked Bloomberg early on in a wide-ranging interview. “He has in some ways been running a class-warfare campaign …”

“Class-warfare and racist,” Bloomberg interrupted him.

“Racist?” Smith asked.

“I mean he’s making an appeal using his family to gain support,” replied Bloomberg. “I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching what he’s been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It’s comparable to me pointing out I’m Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about.”

He added, “But his whole campaign is that there are two different cities here. And I’ve never liked that kind of division. The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people. They are the ones that pay the bills. The people that would get very badly hurt here if you drive out the very wealthy are the people he professes to try to help. Tearing people apart with this “two cities” thing doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s a destructive strategy for those you want to help the most. He’s a very populist, very left-wing guy, but this city is not two groups, and if to some extent it is, it’s one group paying for services for the other. It’s a shame, because I’ve always thought he was a very smart guy.”

The remarks were widely greeted on Twitter as about as big a gift Bloomberg could have given to de Blasio, whose message that it’s time for a change after 12 years of the billionaire mayor has resonated deeply with the Democratic primary electorate. Some Democratic strategists also speculated there could be a benefit to Bill Thompson, the lone black candidate in the race, who was the Democratic nominee in the 2009 mayoral race and who most polls show as the likeliest person to keep de Blasio under 40 percent.

The person the remarks seemed least likely to help was City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the candidate most closely aligned with Bloomberg, who has seen her former lead collapse in recent months.

De Blasio’s son Dante, who sports an Afro hair style that’s become well known on the campaign trail, appeared in one of his earliest and most effective campaign ads.

The candidate pushed back hard on the remarks, according to the Politicker website.

“If that’s exactly what he said, it’s obviously inappropriate and I’m surprised to hear him say it,” said de Blasio, who at the time said he hadn’t yet seen the piece.

Later he said, “I’m very proud of my family. I’m very proud of each and every member of my family and the way that they have handled themselves in a very difficult campaign.”

As de Blasio and his family held an afternoon press conference in Brooklyn responding to Bloomberg’s comments, his wife, Chirlane, tweeted at the mayor,

”@MikeBloomberg, enough of the patriarchal thinking. I am not property or a tool to be used or controlled. Stop the sexism!”

Quinn called the remarks from Bloomberg “unfortunate,” according to reports.

Thompson, asked about the Bloomberg comments, called them “nonsense” and “ridiculous,” according to New York Daily News reporter Erin Durkin’s Twitter feed.

The attacks from Bloomberg and his aides against de Blasio have been welcomed by the Democratic frontrunner, whose aides say they think it has been a help. The most recent public poll, by Quinnipiac University, showed de Blasio at 43 percent.